Or maybe you love the idea of pranayama (breath work)? Try an integrated class like Prana Flow, or Kundalini.

Or do you want a class that just focuses on the physical side of yoga? Maybe you can find what you want at a gym.

2. Talk to the studios: Once you know what you want, go and have a chat to the studios available and see what they suggest to you. Pay attention to how you feel when you walk into each studio, and the way you are treated.

Are you listened to? Are you attended to quickly? Do you feel good in the studio? Be mindful that some studios will lock the doors when there is a class on, so it pays to call ahead of time and check when an appropriate time is to drop in. Ask for a tour of the facilities. Take away a timetable so you can read it in more depth.

3. Talk to yoga-loving friends: Recommendations are always good – find a friend who’s judgment you trust and ask which teacher and classes they like, and find out why. Get them to take you to a class. It’s always more fun, and less threatening, to start a new activity with a friend. It helps with motivation too if you’re going with someone else.

4. Work out what times will suit you, and what budget works for you: Sometimes the studio or teacher we choose comes down to convenience, so it helps to know when you would be likely to go to class and how much a class is worth to you.

Don’t think of the money you spend on a class as the same as spending money on entertainment, think of it as investment in your health and well-being. A regular yoga practice can help rehabilitate injuries and prevent new ones, and can also provide relief from certain conditions, and prevent new conditions from developing. How much is your health worth to you?

But do be mindful in committing to a year’s membership when you’ve never really done that style of yoga before. Try starting with a beginner’s offer – most studios will offer some kind of deal on your first few classes. Or try a ten pass. Then, when you know what you really love, dive in and get the best deal by committing to a year.

5. Try, and try, and try again. The best time to think about joining a studio is when it first opens, because usually they will offer free yoga for a period of time so you can check out the classes, and they often offer discounted joining specials.

So jump in and try as many classes as you can, with different teachers and different styles until you find something you like. You may discover you love classical hatha yoga, but the teacher doesn’t quite speak your language, so find another teacher.

Each teacher brings something different to a class, and appeals to different people. Just because your friend raves about a particular teacher, it doesn’t mean you too will love him or her.

Which leads on to… 6. Pay attention to the teacher. If you’ve never done yoga before, it’s hard to know what a great yoga teacher is like, compared to a not-so great yoga teacher, because you have nothing to compare against. Each teacher will have a different style too. Some teachers like to physically adjust and correct their students, while other teachers prefer to give verbal corrections and adjustments and let the students find the pose from within.

Regardless of their style though, what great teachers all have in common is that they ‘see’ their students. They notice when alignment needs correcting, and when breathing is strained. They see where students are tight, and where they are weak. A great teacher is responsive to the needs of his or her class, and doesn’t recite the instructions for each asana by rote, instead paying attention to what needs to be said in that moment – even in Bikram, which is known for it’s tightly scripted class. A great Bikram teacher can work off the script, and still be responsive to the needs of individual teachers.

If, after trying a smattering of styles and teachers, yoga still doesn’t grab you… than maybe it’s not for you at this point in life. But don’t write it off for good either – we change every year, and yoga is such a transformative practice, you may find that down the track, it does appeal to you. Obviously as a teacher and serious addict I am completely biased, but if you don’t like yoga, do yourself a favour and try one class a year, just in case you do change your mind… and then you’ll understand what I’m raving about all the time!

Similar Articles You May Enjoy

I was delighted to receive Twee Merrigan's latest newsletter as it included a link to a recently-posted twenty minute on-line Prana Flow Yoga class. Yeah! It's so exciting to be able to watch Twee, and get some inspiration for my home practice, and for the classes I'm teaching. It's the…

Taught by Master Yoga Instructor Shiva Rea, Prana Flow is a liberating, evolutionary, rhythmic, vinyasa flow class that encompasses mudra, chanting, bandha, pranayama, meditation, asana, kriya and a whole lot of fun. It's set to music, and it is almost guaranteed to raise your vibration, open your heart and set…

Technically, this album is great. Great artists, great music, great music for yoga. A worthy addition to any yogi's music collection. My biggest gripe is with the order of the songs - yoga class playlists can be so time-consuming to construct, I was secretly hoping I could play this album…

About Kara-Leah Grant

Kara-Leah is an internationally-renowned writer, teacher and retreat leader. Millions of people have been impacted by the articles, books and videos she has published over the last ten years. Her passion is liberation in this lifetime through an every day path of dissolving layers of tension into greater and greater freedom and joy. You can find out more about her, including when her next retreats are, on her website. Kara-Leah is the visionary and creator of The Yoga Lunchbox.

Comments

Great article, KL! I have to say that I have a hard time finding a teacher I like. Maybe that’s because I used to teach and I’m picky! I can’t stand it when teachers talk incessantly. I was in a Yin class that should have been gloriously relaxing the other day, but the teacher would not shut up! It was like he had a captive audience and was going to bless us with his wisdom, whether we liked it or not. 🙂

Another teacher I used to like started getting on my nerves when he kept saying things like “Don’t worry about what the person next to you is doing.” or “Don’t judge your pose.” He kept bringing up “don’ts” that would never have occurred to me – until he brought them up!

Okay, there’s my little rant of pet peeves! 🙂 When I’m in a good space, I make these minor annoyances part of my practice of non-reaction.

You bring up a couple of great points there. I know as a teacher it is easy to talk constantly, whether giving asana instruction or other snippets of yoga info. You’ve reminded me not to be afraid of silence in a class!

Great point too about how to frame instructions in a class – negative direction will make us think about the very thing we “don’t”want to (Quick – don’t think about a pink elephant!). Framing the same instruction in a positive way can have a very different result.

I guess as yoga students, we sometimes get to practice non-judgment (would that be acceptance?) in a yoga class…